60's Univibe clone HELP

[Gypsyssun]

I Have a 60's Univibe unit and I cloned it, im trying to troubleshoot my clone:

this is what is happeing,
The light that is supost to osculate just stays on-
Q13 Transistor smokes every time, burns out and then stops smoking(but the light still remains on)
While pluged in the guitar signal goes thought fine without no effect, Im thinking it could be a in correct PCB layout near the Q13 or plus the fact that I dont have a 2 pin trimmer, Im using a 500Ohm pither 3 pim trimmer, (with out using the 3rd middle pin)

If you guys could help drop a line please, Ill try to put pics of my work up! Thank you.

[Jazz P Bass]

Here is the 'original' Univibe schematic.
Is this the one that you built?
If not, can you kindly post the schematic?

[Gypsyssun]

Yes and No, because I had found a new schematic of they old lay out, its the same though...

[Jazz P Bass]

Cannot see what would 'burn up' Q13.
What voltages do you measure?
The collector is the power connection.
The base should sit at 1/2 of that.

[Gypsyssun]

Ill have to show you some photos when i get my camera... its kinda funny because i know i should have a metar but i dont, I want to say theres 25v running thought it... now by the collector you mean the plug or the transformer?

[g1]

The collector is one of the terminals of the transistor. For Q13 it is the top terminal drawn.
Not sure if this is the problem but you are wiring up your trimmer wrong. You need to use the middle leg and one of the outer legs, not the two outers.

[Gypsyssun]

Thanks for the advise, But could you show me a pic of the placement of the 3 pin trimmer, where as the 60's board has 2 pin trimmer....

[Gypsyssun]

oh also how many volts am i looking for on this collector?

[Gypsyssun]

[52 Bill]

I don't know what your board is, but Q13 is the lamp driver, so the light bulb is in series with the transistor's collector. If the light stays on either it is turned on by a signal to the base, or the trimmer is not adjusted correctly not allowing the transistor to turn off, or the transistor is shorted from collector to emitter.

You need to have access to a multimeter in order to test the transistors and more importantly to read the voltages in the circuit. The oscillator circuit creates a varying voltage that turns on and off the lamp driver transistor. With a meter you can see if the oscillator is running or not. The meter will also tell you if the oscillator output is getting to the lamp driver.

The video was a nice touch, but it doesn't help convey any of the necessary information for us to help you troubleshoot your unit. Get a meter and give us some real info.